Drug Take Back Initiative
Prescription drug abuse and addiction is rising at a staggering rate. The majority of prescription medication used to fuel addiction comes from the medicine cabinets of family members and friends. District Attorney Morrissey developed a county-wide program to educate residents of the responsibility of safely storing and disposing of medication.

Now residents can dispose of their prescription medication at a drug take-back box located in police stations across the county. This partnership with police and local health officials has resulted in significant collection and destruction of prescription medication.

There are presently 25 communities in Norfolk County that have a safe prescription drug disposal unit available at their police station. This unit is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for residents to drop off unused medication with no questions asked.

More than half of young opiate users took their first pain pill straight out of the medicine cabinet of their family or that of a friend’s family. It is urgent that residents get the prescription drugs they no longer need out of their homes and dispose of them safely.

Opiate use destroys individual lives, damages the family and friends around the addict, and drives much of the property crime and robberies we see in our communities. With the FDA long recommending against flushing unused drugs down the toilet, to keep them from filtering into groundwater supplies, these drug take-back containers provide a safe, responsible way to diminish the extent that these drugs are being diverted and abused. Our grant program, financed with money confiscated from drug dealers, and partnership with Impact Quincy expanded the number of towns from five to twenty-five. Covanta Energy is providing safe destruction of collected drugs through their pro bono Rx 4 Safety Program.

________________________________________Your tool for understanding how medications
may affect you and your drivinghttp://www.roadwiserx.com________________________________________

Partners in PreventionProminent among the collaborations that the District Attorney's office has entered into is Partners in Prevention, a project of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA). Partners in Prevention brings together a wide array of groups devoted to providing substance abuse prevention services and resources to the students of Massachusetts.

Norfolk School Partnership
This network of health educators, school counselors, school nurses, and other prevention professionals meet monthly on prevention education, emphasizing the role the criminal justice system plays in school and community based prevention.

Partnership with Community Coalitions
Working collaboratively with schools, police, and community, we partner with community coalitions to offer support to enhance the health and safety of youth and families.